On the afternoon of April 8, 2026, Mr. Selwin Hart, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition, delivered a speech at Tsinghua University’s Climate Change Global Lecture series. His remarks, titled “Climate Action and Multilateralism in an Uncertain World: Global Cooperation for a Just Energy Transition,” addressed pressing global challenges and opportunities. Mr. Xie Zhenhua, former Special Envoy on Climate Change of China, offered welcome remarks. The event was also attended by H.E. Hallam Henry, Ambassador of Barbados to China, along with representatives from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Toyota Motor Corporation. 

The following is the full text of the speech as delivered.

Excellences, distinguished colleagues,

We are meeting at a moment of profound geopolitical uncertainty.

The world is once again witnessing the consequences of conflict unfold. The conflict in the Middle East is a stark reminder of how deeply our economies and our security remain tied to energy systems built around fossil fuels. 

But let me clear from the outset. As the Secretary-General recently said, the most immediate priority must be to de-escalate tensions and end the hostilities. Lives must be protected. Civilians must be safeguarded. And diplomacy must prevail. This must come first.

But even as we focus on ending the conflict, we must also confront a deeper lesson it reveals. When conflict disrupts supply, the effects ripple quickly across the global economy — raising energy prices, driving inflation, straining public finances, and placing immediate pressure on households and businesses everywhere. For many countries, particularly across the Global South, these shocks translate directly into slower growth, rising debt burdens, disrupted trade, and shrinking fiscal space for the investments their people urgently need. And in responding to these shocks, we must be clear: Short-term measures to stabilize energy markets and economies and  to protect the poor and most vulnerable should avoid locking  countries into new or expanded fossil fuel infrastructure that will deepen vulnerability, increase costs over time, and undermine the transition we urgently need. This moment must not become another cycle of crisis-driven fossil fuel expansion.

At the same time, strategic competition between major powers is intensifying. Trust between nations is eroding. And multilateral cooperation — once the foundation of global progress — is under growing strain. This is the world as it is — turbulent, uncertain, and demanding new solutions.

And yet, beneath this turbulence and uncertainty, a profound structural shift is underway. The global clean energy transition is accelerating — and it is becoming one of the most powerful sources of stability and opportunity in a fractured world. Last year, global investment in clean energy exceeded US$2 trillion and more than doubled investment in fossil fuels. The world added close to 700 GW gigawatts of renewable capacity — the largest expansion in history. Solar power is now the cheapest source of new electricity across most of the world, and renewables now account for the overwhelming majority of new power capacity added globally.

These are not projections. They are market realities. Clean energy is no longer an alternative. It is now the default. But the deeper driver of this transition is something even more fundamental: the recognition that the global energy system built on fossil fuels creates profound economic and geopolitical vulnerabilities.

Three out of every four people on this planet live in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels. That includes the 1.4 billion citizens of China, the 1.4 billion citizens of India, more than 440 million people in the European Union, and over one billion people living in the Least Developed Countries. In other words, the vast majority of humanity — from the world’s largest economies to its most vulnerable nations — remains exposed to fossil fuel markets they do not control. 

We have seen these risks repeatedly — from the oil shocks of previous decades, to the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, to the volatility affecting global markets today. For most of the world, fossil fuel dependence is not energy security.

It is energy insecurity. And that is why the clean energy transition is no longer only a climate story. It is a story about sovereignty, stability and development. None of this means that the climate crisis itself is receding. On the contrary — it is accelerating.

The science is clearer than ever. Evidence linking human activity and the burning of fossil fuels in particular to rising temperatures is unequivocal. And yet at this critical moment in addressing the climate crisis, we are seeing concerted and well-funded efforts by some vested interest to cast doubt on that science – to delay the transition, distort the truth and prolong the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

But the facts are not in doubt. The science is indisputable, and the longer action is delayed, the higher the costs -economic, social and human. China’s voice in defending the integrity of climate science– anchored in the work of the IPCC, the WMO and UNEP – will be critical in sustaining trust, guiding policy and accelerating collective action.

The World Meteorological Organization has just confirmed the last eleven years have been the hottest on record. Greenhouse gas concentrations are at historic highs. And the planet is now trapping heat much faster than it can release it. As a result, we are witnessing more intense heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms across every region. The impacts are devastating lives and livelihoods disrupting economies, food systems and infrastructure. Even as the clean energy transition gathers pace, the world remains far from the trajectory needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists now warn that temporary overshoot of 1.5 degrees is increasingly likely. However, the choices and investments made this decade will determine how far temperatures rise, how long they remain above 1.5 degrees, and how quickly we bring them back down. 

Failure to act — including by dramatically scaling up finance for adaptation and resilience — carries profound consequences for everyone.But it is the most vulnerable countries — particularly small island developing states and least developed countries — that face the greatest risks despite having contributed the least to the problem. Which is why accelerating the energy transition and strengthening climate resilience must move forward together.

Clean energy offers countries the opportunity to generate power from resources they own — such as sun and wind — rather than relying on fuels imported from distant and volatile markets. The clean energy transition represents one of the greatest development opportunities of our time. But this opportunity will only be realised through cooperation — not fragmentation.

There are powerful interests that benefit from the status quo. They have strong incentives to slow the transition. And we already see this resistance — in misinformation about the costs of clean energy, in attempts to undermine the science and frustrate collective action, in fragmented supply chains, and in financial systems that continue to channel capital into fossil fuel expansion.

This resistance cannot stop the transition. The economics are too powerful and the technological momentum too strong. But it can slow it. And delay has consequences — measured not only in degrees of warming and catastrophic weather events, but in lost development opportunities for the countries and communities that can least afford to wait. Accelerating the transition — and ensuring its benefits are shared — therefore requires strengthening international cooperation and multilateralism. Which brings me directly to China. 

China’s role in the global energy transition is central. And the signals China sends domestically — and the bridges and partnerships it builds internationally — will shape the pace and direction of the global transition. China has already demonstrated what is possible. Chinese manufacturing helped reduce the cost of clean energy technologies over the past decade, making renewable energy affordable and accessible for all. And China is also transforming its own energy system at extraordinary speed. In recent years China has installed more solar and wind capacity annually than the rest of the world combined. 

Through these domestic policies and investments, China is sending a powerful signal to global markets: that the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy is not a distant aspiration but a structural transformation already underway. China’s massive clean energy expansion is helping demonstrate that the transition is inevitable, unstoppable and irreversible. At the same time, the global transition benefits clear and consistent signals about the long-term direction of energy systems. 

As renewable deployment accelerates and battery storage technologies mature, clarity about the future role of coal will help reinforce confidence among markets, investors and governments around the world. Greater visibility on the pathway for reducing reliance on coal would therefore strengthen confidence in the transition and amplify the powerful signal that China’s clean energy leadership is already sending.

In addition, China’s leadership will also be defined by the bridges and partnerships it builds internationally. Through cooperation on technology, critical energy transition minerals, infrastructure, finance and industrial development, China has the opportunity to help ensure that the benefits of the clean energy transition reach countries across the developing world.

The next phase of the transition will depend not only on national action, but on the partnerships that connect countries — enabling technology to spread faster, investment to flow further, and clean energy to become accessible to all. This is where China’s leadership can make a decisive difference. Let me highlight five concrete areas where cooperation — and China’s leadership — can help accelerate the global energy transition, even in this moment of division and turbulence.

First: grids and storage.

The biggest barrier to the clean energy transition today is no longer the cost of generating renewable power. It is the infrastructure needed to deliver it. Across the world, outdated grids and insufficient storage are slowing renewable deployment. Without modern grids and large-scale storage, the clean electricity revolution cannot move at the speed required.

Second: resilient clean energy supply chains.

Solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals are the building blocks of the new energy system. Ensuring that supply chains remain open, resilient and diversified will be essential to supporting rapid global deployment while strengthening energy security for all countries.

Third: lowering the cost of capital.

For many developing countries, the greatest barrier to clean energy is not technology. It is finance. A solar project in Europe may borrow at 3 or 4 percent interest. The same project in parts of Africa or Southeast Asia may face financing costs two or three times higher. If the transition is to accelerate globally, we must bring down the cost of capital so that investment flows to where clean energy potential is greatest.

Fourth: just and orderly transitions.

The shift away from fossil fuels must be managed in ways that protect workers and communities whose livelihoods depend on today’s energy system. More than 13 million people worldwide work in fossil fuel industries, and millions of communities depend on the revenues they generate. The clean energy transition must therefore be a jobs and development strategy — creating new industries, new skills and new opportunities.

Fifth: ensuring energy access for all.

Nearly 800 million people still live without access to electricity with 600 million in Africa. In Africa 8 out of 10 persons  live in rural or difficult to reach areas where decentralized renewables, mini grids and storage can play a transformative role, bringing power directly to people and communities that have been left behind for decades. For them the energy transition is not about climate. It is about development, dignity and opportunity. 

Excellencies,

The energy transition will only succeed if it is fair, just and global. Fragmented markets and geopolitical rivalry risk slowing progress at precisely the moment acceleration is required. The clean energy transition must become a platform for cooperation — not another arena of geopolitical competition.

Nearly a decade ago, the world came together in Paris to adopt a landmark agreement on climate change. Before Paris, the world was heading toward more than 4 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of this century. Today, if current national climate pledges are fully implemented, projected warming has fallen to around 2.3 to 2.5 degrees. That is still far from safe. But it demonstrates something important: International cooperation works. The Paris Agreement sent a powerful signal to markets and innovators around the world.

Today, every G20 nation has some form of net zero target and as of today, countries representing close to 90% of global emissions have presented or formally announced new national climate plans or NDCs over the past year, including all but one G20 nation. 

In 2015, solar power was still emerging as an energy source. Today it is the fastest-growing source of electricity in human history.

In 2015, global clean energy investment was a fraction of what it is today. 

In 2015, less than 1% of all new cars sold globally were electric vehicles.

By the end of this year one in every four cars sold globally will be electric. These transformations did not happen by accident. They happened because governments, markets, investors and innovators responded to a shared signal that the world had chosen a different path. That is the real power of multilateralism.

In China there is a proverb that says: “We are all in the same boat.”

To the students here today — the scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow — the future will soon be in your hands. My hope is that you will defend the spirit of cooperation that made the Paris Agreement possible and continue to accelerate the clean energy transition our shared future requires. Because the direction of travel is already clear. The transition is inevitable. It is unstoppable. And it is irreversible.

But history will not judge us on direction alone. It will judge us on speed, fairness and on whether we seized this moment with the urgency it demands. This is not ole a technological transition. It is a test of cooperation. A test of leadership, and a test of our collective will.

The United Nations, under the leadership of the Secretary-General will continue to support these efforts – working with China and all partners to accelerate the transition, strengthen cooperation and ensure that no one is left behind. Because in the end, we are all in the same boat — and the course we set together will define the future we share.

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